Comte de Sanois

In his later years his wife committed him unjustly to the Asylum of Charenton under a lettre de cachet, an incident which because it illustrated the despotic and arbitrary nature of the legal system of the ancien régime became a cause célèbre known as the Affaire Sanois on the eve of the Revolution, in the course of which the count also became increasingly well known for his many political pamphlets.

Ceaselessly protesting his innocence, he was finally released after nine months and immediately began proceedings against his wife to compel her to abandon her request for separation and to clear his good name and reputation.

There was huge public indignation over the principle of the lettre de cachet, a symbol of despotism, and there was sympathy for the unfortunate old man whom his unnatural wife had had thrown into Charenton.

Among the publications which revealed the background and details of topical affairs, one of the most reliable is certainly the "Mémoires secrets", an anonymous serial published over many years Various authors have been credited with contributing to it, among them a certain Mouffle d’Angerville, to whom are attributed no less than thirty-four articles favourable to the Comte de Sanois.

Although he rectifies some errors, generally his tone is highly enthusiastic before the authenticity of these chronicles: "Sirs, you have reproduced this scene with such exactitude that there is not a comma to remove here, nor a point to be added there."

In 1787, the lawsuit concluded in a compromise: Mme de Sanois was to keep the totality of the couple's goods but agreed to pay an income to her husband and acknowledged that her charges against him were unfounded.